Tar sands oil tankers are too risky for the Pacific shore!

There’s a cross-border, unbroken wall of tar sands opposition in the making: First Nations and allies all across the western coast of Canada are already standing together to demand that our health, our coast and our ways of life be prioritized over oil industry profits.

And now, that momentum is spreading south to our neighbors in Washington, Oregon, and even California. Why? Because political boundaries don’t stop the devastation of an oil spill — and they don’t stop the power of people demanding accountability, either.

Oil companies like Kinder Morgan and Enbridge are looking for cracks in our opposition. They are trying to push through new pipelines like the Enbridge Northern Gateway and the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline that would put life as we know it on our coast at risk.

The Kinder Morgan pipeline alone would increase tar sands tanker traffic through Burrard Inlet from the current 80 tankers to more than 400. And then, those tankers would travel through the treacherous waters of the Juan de Fuca Strait through critical habitat for southern resident Killer Whales (aka orcas) and many other species and then down the west coast of the US.

Today, we’re announcing the launch of a new tool to track those tankers, plus an action hub to stop them before they start putting our coast, our communities, and our economy at risk.

Navigate to TarSandsSOS.org to learn more about the threats of these tankers and to track them as they travel along our invaluable coast, orcas, salmon, and other species, (like the two-legged one that’s writing this email,) depend on.

Sign your name to our cross border declaration to work together to defend our coast at the TarSandsSOS.org and join the wall of opposition to tar sands on the west coast. The time to stand up is now, before these tankers, trains and pipelines forever change the face of the coastline we share. Join me,Ben West Tar Sands Campaign Director, ForestEthics Advocacy

With this declaration, we are sending out an SOS. Tar sands and crude exports from Canada and the United States must be stopped. The risks are real.

In British Columbia, two proposed tar sands pipelines would result in a combined 700% increase in the number of tar sands tankers traveling up and down the West Coast, dramatically raising the risk of oil spills.

In Washington State, the sudden appearance of multiple proposals to bring risky crude oil to our shores by rail has raised grave concerns about community safety. Increasing amounts of tar sands crude processed in local refineries threatens the health of both humans and the environment.

Together we pledge to take action to save our shores by saying no to tar sands and risky crude oil infrastructure in our communities, creating an unbroken wall of opposition on both sides of the border.